Higher Education | 2002 Archive

November

The diversity movement continues apace in North Carolina higher education. Universities continue to expend resources in pursuit of diversity, a term generally used to refer to having an appropriate mix of students and faculty of different races, genders, and sexual preferences, as well as course offerings tailored to that mix.

A distinguished panel of academic thinkers discussed academic freedom in the wake of September 11 as part of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy’s conference in Chapel Hill Oct. 26. The conference focused on “challenges facing higher education in North Carolina.” By Jon Sanders.

Jon Sanders writes that more than 100 faculty members worked with a handful of students and staff members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to produce a proposed new general education curriculum for the university.

Every so often, you come across an article that leaves you thinking, "Gosh -- I can't believe he actually said that!" A recent essay that appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 27, 2002) had that effect on me. It was written by a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Randall Collins. Collins entitled his piece, "The Dirty Little Secret of Credential Inflation" and what made it so remarkable was his audacity in speaking a truth so contrary to his professional interest.

Karen Palasek writes that the Princeton Review, long known for preparing students to take college and graduate study admissions tests like the SAT, the LSAT, and the MCAT, has ranked North Carolina at the top in their first annual evaluation of state testing and accountability.

Don Carrington reveals that when Johnson & Wales University and Charlotte officials announced a new $82 million school for downtown Charlotte they said it was being subsidized by local tax dollars and private funds, but neglected to mention subsidies from the state which now appears to be in the neighborhood of $10 million.

One night the comic-strip character Binkley from Bloom County woke his father with the rant, "Well, Dad, I guess it's safe to say we aren't exactly a couple of short, Hispanic, Hindu, French-speaking, physically handicapped, Communist, gay, black women." Binkley's problem that night was his realization that "in every regard, we're hopelessly in the majority."

A recent study of faculty salaries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revealed a significant salary gap between white male faculty and minority faculty. Now that this pay gap has been proven, it’s time for the university to address this obvious pay bias.
The next step is hard but clear: UNC-CH must take corrective action to pay white males more. The good news is at least they’re now getting paid more than females.

Jon Sanders reports that according to the most recent data, taxpayers in North Carolina pay the fourth-highest per-pupil amount in the nation to subsidize public-college students in their state. Those findings are according to an October Inquiry paper (No. 14, “Providing Access: Who Pays What for Higher Education in N.C.”) by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

According to the most recent data, taxpayers in North Carolina pay the fourth-highest per-pupil amount in the nation to subsidize public-college students in their state. Also, N.C. students attending the state's community colleges or public universities pay the second-lowest amounts in tuition and fees in the nation in either category of institution.